Entries in Recep Tayyip Erdogan
(67)

The curiosity of Prime Minister Erdogan's statement was in its emphasis. Instead of a focus on operations against the Kurdish Communities’ Union (KCK), with the arrest of hundreds of Kurdish politicians, or ongoing military action against PKK militants, Erdogan implicitly blamed “external powers” for using PKK.

Doing so, he was trying to divert the public’s attention from domestic political debates. But this is also a move in foreign policy: according to many experts, columnists, and academics in Turkey, Erdogan is targeting Iran and Syria.

Israel's rulers must make a choice. They must see the fact that the real security comes with the real peace. They must see that it is not possible to maintain the state of conflict in the Middle East permanently. It is necessary to show that Israel is not above the law.

The most important step to be taken in this matter is the Palestine's taking part in the UN. Turkey's support to Palestine is unconditional.

On Friday, the relationship between Israel and Turkey deteriorated further: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would provide an armed escort for a new flotilla to break the blockade on Gaza, while Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman proposed measures from a warning against travel to or through Turkey to support of the Kurdish insurgency PKK.

So what does the tension demonstrate? For all the differences between Israel and Turkey: it shows the two powers can agree on one thing --- playing to domestic audiences with declaration of their foreign policy interests.

On Sunday, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke, and his target was the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). In response to a series of fights between Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and PKK militants, Erdogan said:

"We are maintaining our patience because of our respect for Ramadan. But, everyone should know that the beginning of peace will be more different after this month of peace and solidarity

I am saying it frankly. The cost of this will be heavy for them. Those who fail to distance themselves from the separatist terrorist organization in this country are also abetting this crime. They are also doomed to pay the price for that. "

Does this threat have any teeth? This is a time when Iran is increasing pressure on PKK’s PJAK branch and while speculations have arisen to such an extent that the Turkish state’s own news agency, Anadolu Agency, was announcing at first that PKK’s second man (Murat Karayilan) had been captured by Iranian security forces, a statement which couldn’t be confirmed by Turkish politicians. With the significance of this regional PKK-targeting game, is Turkey really willing to carry out an operation in northern Iraq?

Turkey and Israel are close to resolving their dispute over last year's flotilla fiasco, but the partnership that existed between them for more than a decade will almost certainly stay submerged.

As a new flotilla of ships prepared to set sail for Gaza Tuesday, Turkish and Israeli officials and analysts said that only a major breakthrough on Israeli-Palestinian peace could begin to revive a relationship that once featured joint military exercises and hordes of Israeli tourists visiting Istanbul. Even then, the officials said, they doubted that the warmth of the 1990s and the mid-2000s would resurface.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) ended up with less than 330 MPs out of 550 in the Parliament, short of the "super-majority" which would enable the AKP to amend the Constitution without resistance.

Meanwhile, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, declared that passive resistance, rather than armed conflict, would continue if two conditions were met: a halt to Turkish military operations and engagement with his leadership, reaching out to the militants and urging them to accept a democratic solution.

Both these headline developments are now accompanied by other manoeuvres.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to embrace the entire nation after a sweeping victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections and said his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will seek a broad-based consensus of opposition parties and civil society groups while drafting a new constitution.

The AK Party won a third consecutive term by securing a record-high vote of 50 percent in Sunday's polls. The biggest opposition party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's Republican People's Party (CHP), won 25.9 percent.

Activists have created this map of protests today during "Syria's Day of Clans"

2055 GMT: A doctor has told Reuters that the death toll from the regime bombardment of opposition-held Misurata, Libya's third-largest city, has risen to 31. More than 110 people are wounded.

1739 GMT: Earlier, we reported that helicopters were being used to shoot civilians in the streets of Ma'ara Al Nu'man. Another source now says that security forces are going door to door, searching for defected sodliers.